It is the first Monday of the month and you want everyone who has not been in since spring. With two hundred patients you should not have to scroll for them, and with two thousand the list should still open as fast.
Search, then narrow
Open Patients and start typing in the search box, which reads Search by name, email, or phone. It matches name, preferred name, email and phone number, and every word you type has to match somewhere, so alex allen finds Alexander Allen. The list loads in pages of 25, with Previous and Next under the table and a count of how many patients match.
Filters narrows by any column, and you can combine several, one per column. Pick a column, pick an operator and type a value; Apply (or Enter) runs it. Text columns offer contains, equals and starts with. Dates offer is, is before and is after. Number columns compare with equals, greater and less than. Choice columns such as Status and Cadence offer is and is any of. Every column also has is empty and is not empty, which is how you find the patients who have never visited or have nothing booked.
Every column sorts
Click a header to sort ascending, again for descending, a third time to clear it. That includes the computed columns: Last visit counts past appointments and any imported visit history, Next appt is the soonest confirmed or held booking, and Status is where the patient is in their care. Patients with nothing in a column always sort to the bottom, whichever direction you choose.
Two patients with the same legal name are flagged in the Name column with a note to check date of birth or contact details, so you chart the right one.
Your columns, your layout
Name, DOB, Email, Phone, Last visit, Next appt and Status show to begin with. The Columns menu adds first and last name, Patient since, Cadence, Preferred contact, Emergency contact, Address and Created, along with each patient field you define, and those sort and filter the same way. Drag a header edge to resize a column. Column choices and widths are remembered on that browser only; they do not follow you to another device and are not part of a saved view.
What stays out of the address
Web addresses end up in server logs and browser history, so your search text and any filter on a name, email, phone, address, date of birth, emergency contact or patient field is kept in the page and never put in the address. It survives a reload in the same tab. The address carries only things like the sort, the page, the selected view and filters on columns that identify no one, such as Last visit or Status.
From there, tick patients to export them as a CSV, or give a wide table room with full screen.